To breastfeed or not to breastfeed, that is the question

Hahaha thought I'd check out some ads for things that I was recently advertising at uni, and came across this disgusting but hilarious viral for Marmite.

Enjoy! Or maybe not!

The barefaced cheek of it

*Sigh* As expected, this putting of one's foot on the proverbial ladder to an amazing career is going slowly. Unfortunately standing on a roof and shouting "I have a 2:1 in Advertising!" won't get agencies flocking for my services (though I haven't actually tried it...) I've even resorted to dole dossing in a bid to get some money coming in (a little unnerving walking into the job centre in Wigan and instantly getting the impression the chav posse are going to kick your head in!)

But hey, it's just for a little while (dear lord, I hope so!) and I have applied for a few junior copywriter positions in the meantime. And when boredom strikes, perhaps I'll send some more cheeky little emails to the recruitment people at McCann Erickson! You don't get if you don't ask, after all! : )

So yeah, just to let you guys know what I'm up to at the moment besides working on the old folio - reworking some of the old stuff after having seen Alan Young at New Blood, and will see where it goes. Going to keep a look out for other brands to be having a crack at in the meantime though - feeling like I need something totally new and exciting (or even mind-numbingly boring) to stoke my creative engines.

Until my day of creative reckoning dawns, look out for more unemployed ramblings here! : )

"We've got the odd loan here, the odd credit card there..."

No doubt this has appeared on tons of blogs since I first saw it last year, but trailing YouTube for something to make me laugh, I couldn't help but wet myself at this little lot for the third time in a row.

I didn't really wet myself though. Honest.

Two trains, 4 Tubes, and a book crit later...

Yesterday finally saw me heading off to the Big Smoke (London) for New Blood. Unfortunately I couldn't be there for the full 4 days of events and talks, but managed to get down just for the day for my book crit. A little bit daunting heading down there on my bill from Wigan, but surprisingly one of the best things I've ever done.


A great venue having it at Brompton Halls at Earls Court (though may I say - thank God for maps!), and after finally figuring out where I even was in the room, I made my way to the University of Central Lancashire stand... to find it deserted. Starting to feel a little panicky by this point and not having a clue where to go, I got a classmate to come and find me there and lead me like the stray sheep I was, only to find everyone in the crit area. Said my "how do's" and headed over to register (again, not having a clue where to go lol!)

And so the moment of commencement.. commenced! A little before noon I was escorted (or should I say, my name shouted out and a finger pointing me in the right direction) to Alan Young from St. Luke's. Luckily the nerves settled pretty much as soon as I sat down - great bloke, full of enthusiasm and great ideas to prod me in the right direction. Was pretty surprised to not be told "Shit. Shit. That's shit too. Utter bollocks." - not that I thought my work was crap, I just thought London would be ruthless! Thankfully he had a lot of really positive things to say about each of my campaigns, and even the work which wasn't taken quite so well always had a positive new idea to come out of it. My portfolio was more or less untouched from the deadline at uni, and the general gist was:

*Slavery - well put together, well written copy, and thumbs up for using my own photography in most executions, but it lacked a core thought for each piece to hang off.

*Talk - wasn't keen on the more graphical executions as they were doing little to actually persuade people to talk, but liked the notion of targetting people wherever their eyes wander on public transport to avoid talking to strangers, and also the thought of a Talk Zone.

*Best Beginnings - very little said to be honest, no huge reaction or negatives begot from this, though he liked the sweet imagery of my "Belong" execution in particular.

*Pacamac - the dark horse that it is! This campaign I was ready to banish from my portfolio, never to be seen again. But he saw it in a new light and loved the simple strategic thinking of "Be prepared" and using non-weather related water incidents as ammunition to sell the product, and challenged me to make an event out of the product - to get the consumer actively involved in the brand through the use of flashmobbing and the like (which obviously is the best form of advertising there is).

*Smart Car - liked my size-based executions and felt that to crack this campaign I needed to focus on just one aspect of the car, so possibly looking into how the Smart Car can get you places that other cars can't. Again making physical events out of the idea and having the cars placed where people would be shocked and amused to see them.

*Milk - a reaction I wasn't quite prepared for! Being one of my better achievements at uni, I felt that this campaign said a lot about me (which he guessed at the end when he asked which campaign I thought was most akin to my personality). Don't get me wrong, he liked how I'd chosen an unconventional route to show how milk benefits our everyday lives, but he said it had some way to go in his eyes. Where exactly, I'm not sure just yet!

There you have it, the (very) edited account of my book crit. I'm definitely seeing other routes into my work now that I feel were previously blocked to me - when you've worked day and night (literally) to meet a deadline, you kind of lose sight of what it is that gives your work that extra kick up the arse that it needs. Yesterday was the time to take my babies into the light of day and see whether I was going to have to kill them or not! And I'd just like to say a big thank you to Alan for his time and helping me to think more outside the box than I have done for awhile! Looking forward to implementing his advice and seeing where it takes me now!

Crit Central (clearly after it had finished)

So for the rest of the afternoon I meandered the maze of stalls (certain I'll have missed some!) having a good old nosey at the competition as well as soaking up the atmosphere of being in a place with more like-minded people than I've probably ever met in my life before! The buzz was just great, and got chatting to a couple of people on other stalls about their work and where they hoped the future was taking them - a breath of fresh air compared with being in Wigan, I tell you!

Here's some of my lot from uni in our stall

My chosen work in our booth

Once my classmates left I was all on my tod again (everybody say "awww!") so had another mooch around to find more stalls yet undiscovered (seriously, hallelujah for the map!) and then had a wander over to the Pecha Kucha event that was happening - and wished I'd been there for all of it! Highlight of the few that I saw had to be Jaki Jo - a spunky (and I'm sure she'd appreciate the term!) Australian whose slideshow consisted of illustrations of herself to represent her different feelings in life (such as her penis envy, which she was very forward about in the image depicting her with a penis at a urinal!) - just laugh out loud good fun all the way through, not to mention the fact that she was still in her cap and gown after graduating in the morning! Definitely a place for her in stand-up comedy if design ever deserts her!

Jaki Jo in action

And her penis envy piece!

After Pecha Kucha finished, Hayley sadly left the building lol. Had an amazing day there, and left with a lot more in my head than when I entered, which is always a rewarding feeling. But the event was finishing, and CyberCandy in Covent Garden was calling out to me for my unusual sweet fixation (chocolate cigarettes still exist - and I'm 6 years old again, woohoo!) Then with heavy bag of goodies, and heavier still portfolio, I had a trundle round to the market area, only to find the most brilliant street performer I've ever seen (again, coming from Wigan, that isn't really saying much!). Tossing diablos and juggling with 5 balls are all entertaining things. But to get on a 12 foot unicycle and juggle two machetes and an apple, and then proceed to EAT the apple... well... I'm not sure there's a word for how good (or how freaking crazy) that is!

Crazy man!

So, an eventful day to say the least! Another sweaty Tube ride back up to King's Cross and a "fuck this!" moment when I saw how full the Tube to Euston was, I opted to lug my portfolio and goodies along the street (not entirely certain that I was walking in the right direction, this being only my second visit to London and all), and met with a few odd looks from a Chinese couple who seemed a little concerned at the state of my breathing by this point. Exhausted but content, I tucked into my tea on the train and thought:
"It's a tough gig, but I can do this advertising lark."

And then I made my brother carry my portfolio home for me : )

A lifetime of education awaits!

So, the opening of our degree show took place last night! It was great to finally see how everything came together for us all and to be able to appreciate all the hard work put in - we might have seen each other working flat out for the last 4 weeks until deadline, but I don't think anyone really took onboard any of the work (it's difficult to when all you're thinking about is where your next Red Bull is coming from!) But it all worked out in the end, and last night was our final celebration of all we've achieved, and hopefully of all the things we can go on to achieve because of it.

Finally managed to sit back and relax (or should I say run around and drink?) and enjoy it. Had a lot of positive response to my work which is always great to hear, and has given me that boost I need to throw myself back into a new portfolio and get back up on that advertising bandwagon of fun right now.

Though my work is featured on my other blog now, I thought I'd share a few of the photos from the show too.


External Project - Slavery, Best Beginnings, Talk


Honours Project (part 1) - Smart Car


Honours Project (part 2) - Milk, Pacamac


And me with my work

Happy though I am with the final result, it was somewhat sad to think that last night was one of the final times we'll all be together, and I woke up this morning feeling different (though that may have been due to the booze!) - 3 years at uni finally coming to a close. No more formal education after this, just the big scary world of education waiting out there : S But as I always say - BRING IT ON! : )

PS - For anybody interesting in coming along to check out his year's advertising talent from good old Prestonia, the show is currently open to the public over the next week, the times being:
Monday 9th - Thursday 12th June, 10am - 7pm
Friday 13th June, 10am - 5pm
Saturday 14th June, 9am - 3pm
Be sure to check out everything going on in Victoria Building (University of Central Lancashire, Preston PR1 2HE) - amazing shows from Graphic Design, Games Design, Animation, Illustration, Interior Design, Fashion... the list goes on!